Acetylene-gas-generating lamp.



No. 633,609. Patented Sept. 26, I899.

E. .A. PAULI.

ACETYLENE GAS GENERATING LAMP.

(Applicatipn filed Aug. 24, 1898.)

2 Sheets-Sheet I,

(No Model.)

No. 633,609. Patented Sept. 26,, I899. E. A. PAULI.

AOETYLENE GAS GENERATING LAMP.

(Application filed Aug. 24, 1898.)

2 SheetsSheet 2,v

(Io Nodal.)

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PATENT EMIL A. PAULI, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OE FOUR-FIFTHS TO JOHN HEWITT, ORLANDO S. GAUCH, DAVID J. \VILSON, AND CHARLES T. BLACK FORD, OF SAME PLACE.

ACETYLEN E-GAS-G EN ERATING LAM P.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 633,609, dated September 26, 1899.

Application filed August 24, 1898. Serial No. 689,398. (No model.)

10 6 whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EMIL A. PAULI, a citizen of the United States residing at Chicago, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lamps, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is an improvement in selfgenera-ting and self-regulating gas-lamps especially designed for the generation and con to sumption of acetylene gas, and while its general features are applicable to any form of lamp it is shown in the drawings as especially adapted for bicycle-lamps.

The invention is also adapted for use as a [5 stationary apparatus for generating gas for a large number of burners; but its principal advantages are realized when employed as a portable lamp or apparatus.

The objects of the present invention are First. To produce an apparatus in which the admission of water to the carbid is automatically controlled and regulated with the utmost nicety by the pressure of gas in the generating-chamber.

Second. To provide an air-cushioning chamber intermediate the generating-chamber and the water-reservoir, which will preserve a substantial equilibrium of the pressure in the gen-- gas in the generating-chamber by producing a spurt of water into the generating-chamber,

5 and, on the other hand, in case of a sudden or too voluminous generation of gas will permit the waterto beimmediately forced back bythe gas and out off from the carbid without any water being necessarily forced back into the 0 tank,asiscommonlythecasein prior-constructions. Practically the air in the cushioningchamber forms a yielding buffer-which will cushion the shock of either gas or water suddenly injected or forced back into the said 5 chamber from eitheror both the tank or gener ating-chamber. This air-bufferinthecushioning-chamber will also prevent a too profuse accumulation of water between the tank and the gciterating-chamber. The air-cushioning 5o chamber, moreover, is so constructed that it will be impossible to fill the same with water no matter in what position the lamp may be placed or turned, so that its beneficial eifect will be constantly maintained regardless of the position of the lamp. The advantages of such a cushioning-chamber will be apparcut to those at all familiar with the unequal generation of gas from calcium carbid even in the very best and most finely-regulated apparatus heretofore known, and in particular the advantages of the employment of such a buffer or air-cushioning chamber in portable lamps and especially those designed and used for bicycles will be appreciated, because bicycle-lamps are subjected to violent shocks or jerks in all directions, and these shocks at times would force the water, because of its inertia, violently from the tank into the gencrating-chamber where such chambers are directly connected and even where they are indirectly connected if the connection is maintained fullof water, as in the ordinary constructions of such lamps.

Third Another object of the invention, attained by the employment of this air-cushioning chamber, is to prevent any water running into the earbid-chamber or into the generating-chamber should the lamp be turned to one side or inverted, which is a common defect in most portable lamps heretofore known and sometimes results in serious and dangerous explosions due to the sudden forcible generation of gas, and this is particularly true in lamps where a considerable supply of water is maintained beneath the carbid-holder in such position that it can freely flow into the carbid or generating chamber if the lamp should be inverted or turned on the side. By my invention in case the lamp should be inverted or turned out of position 0 the Water will be trapped in the air-cushioning chamber and cannot enter the carbidchamber because of the peculiar relative arrangement of the generating-chamber, watertank, and air-cushioning chamber. 5

'Fourth. A further object of the invention is to provide a removable carbid-holder within the generating-chamber and to employ a slitted water-feed tube open at both ends, through which the water can be admitted 10o from the bottom upward in a most nicelygraduated mannerto the carbid. At the same time the gas in the generating-chamber can act instantaneously upon the water in said tube and through the carbid by back pressure and can immediately cut off the water from the carbid in the holder without necessarily expelling all the water from the generating-chamber.

Fifth. Another object is to provide a gascooling chamber, wherein the watery and carbonaceous vapors may be separated from the gas prior to its delivery to the burner.

Sixth. Another object of the invention is to facilitate the introduction of the carbid and filling of the water-tank by so constructing the apparatus that the generating-chamber, water-tank, and air-cushioning chamber may together be quickly removed from the other parts of the apparatus and replaced at will without any troublesome manipulation of parts.

Seventh. Further, in portable lamps, and especially bicycle-lamps, lightness is a great desideratum, and it is obvious that the aircushioning chamber will lessen the weight of the apparatus by exactly the amount of Water which it displaces therein, and in any ordinary bicycle-lamp the size of the air-cushiom ing chamber is such that several cubic inches of space is filled with air, which in ordinary apparatus would be continually filled with water. Anything which deducts from the weight of a bicycle-lamp is an advantage. The air-cushion reduces the weight of the lamp, as it does away with a large amount of dead water that would have no chance to attack the carbid. In case of extreme pressure of gas in my apparatus the small amount of Water in the air-cushioning chamber may be either forced back into the tank or to one side, so that the gas entering the cushionchamber can escape into the water tank through the water-feed pipe to the cushioning-chamber and thence to the atmosphere through the air-vent of the water-tank.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be hereinafter stated; and the invention consists in the novel combinations and constructions of parts summarized in the claims, and the accompanying drawings illustrate the invention as embodied in a portable or bicycle lamp.

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved apparatus embodied in a bicycle-lamp. Fig.2 is avertical sectional elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a transverse section on line 3, Fig. 2; and Fig. t is a detail section on line 4, Fig. 1.

C designates a casing adapted to contain the generating parts of the apparatus, and, as shown, it is shaped to represent a lampbody and is provided at its upper end with a dome-shaped enlargement O, which forms a gas storing and cooling chamber. This casing 0' may be provided with anysuitable device for connecting it to a support, such as a bicycle-frame. To the lower end of this Gasing is attached a short horizontal tube (1 communicating with a gas-storing chamber by a pipe D and with a short vertical tube d, the upper end of which may be formed into a burner and the lower part of which is pivotally connected to a support for the reflector E, hereinafter referred to. Closely fitting within the cylinder C is a removable cylinder A, which is divided near its lowerend by a transverse partition a into upper and lower compartments. The upper compartment is again divided, preferably, by a vertical tube B into a water tank or reservoir 1 exterior to the tube B and agenerating-chamher 2 within the tube B. The space below partition a and the bottom of the cylinderA form an aircushioningchamber, 3. The lower end of cylinder A is closed by a plate A which forms the bottom of the cushioning-chamber 3, and the lower end of tube B is secured water-tightly to the transverse partition (4. Surrounding the lower end of cylinder A is an annular hollow ring A, which is air-tightly connected to the bottom A and to the cylinder A at a point above the lower end thereof, so that, as shown, it forms an annular air-chamber, which communicates with the cushioning-chamber 3 by small openings a in the lower edge of cylinder A. In this construction thereforethe ring A forms a virtual continuation and enlargement of the cushioning-chamber 3 and may increase the beneficial efiect thereof. The upper ends of cylinder A and tube B may be left open for convenience in supplying water and carbid to the chambers 1 and 2 when the cylinder A is removed from the casing C; but when inserted the upper ends of cylinder and tube fit closely and hardly against a gasket 0, of rubber or other suitable material, applied to the lower side of the floor 0 of chamber 0, so that there is no communication between the chambers 1 and 2.

The cylinder A is removably secured within the casing C by means of laterally-projecting studs a on the side of the cylinder A, which are adapted to engage key-slots c in a rotatable annulus 0 attached to the lower edge of easing O, the operation of which will be readily understood from Figs. 1 and 2. For convenience of construction this annulus C may be a split ring, the ends of which are united by a screw or rivet c after it is adjusted in position. 7

The locking portions of the key-slots c are preferably upwardly inclined, so that they will force the cylinder and tube tightly upward against the gasket 0.

The cylinder A may be provided with a peripheral recess a to accommodate the pipe D when the latter is arranged inside the casing C, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The watertank is ventilated by means of a short tube (1, extending through the chamber 0 and establishing communication between chamber 1 and the atmosphere, as shown. The watertank 1 also communicates with the cushioning-chamber by means of a short tube (t in the bottom of chamber 1, which extends down and only opens into cushioning-chamber 3 close to the bottom A thereof. The cushioning-chamber in turn communicates with the generating-chamber by means of a pipe B which opens into the cushioning-chamber 3 close to the bottom thereof atits lower end and into the generating-chamber 2 through an opening a in the partition Ct atits upper end. This pipe B is provided with a cut-off valve Z2 which extends through a stuffing-box to the outside of the apparatus. lVithin the generating-chamber 2 is placed a removable carbid-holder B, which is preferably open at its upper end, so that it can be conveniently filled with carbid, but is closed at its lower end by a bottom I), which has asmall opening in it, however, communicating with the lower end of a small vertically-slitted tube Z2 the slit 1) in which is preferably continuous from top to bottom. The water entering the generating-chamber will have to pass into pipe and through the slit therein before it can enter the carbid. The water in this tube Z9 will be consequently subjected to the direct action of the gas in the generating-chamber, and thus the supply of water to the carbid can be automatically regulated by the gaspressure with the greatest nicety. It will be observed that this tube b is open at both ends, and during the action of the apparatus the water supplied is governed solely by the gaspressure on the water in the slitted tube which is located in the carbid-holder,and gives instantaneous results and the nicest regulation, due to the fact that water can be forced out of the carbid-holder instantaneously even before it is wholly excluded from the generating-chamber and even after it has once been admitted to the carbid-holder. In prior apparatus only the future supply of water is cut off, the water once admitted to the carbidholder or generating-chamber remaining and acting upon the carbid and continuing to generate gas even after the pressure becomes such as to exclude the further supply of water to the generating-chamber.

Operation: The cylinder A, containing the water-tank,generating-chamber, air-cushioning chamber, and the carbid-holder, is removed from the casing. The tank 1 can be filled with water, the valve b in pipe 13 being previously closed. Then the carbidholder may be removed from the generatingchamber, filled with carbid and replaced therein, and then the cylinder A is replaced and secured within the casing. A small amount of water will flow from the tank into cushioning-chamber 3 until the air trapped therein is compressed sufiiciently to prevent furtherinflow of \vater,which will occur when a very small amount of water enters the chamber 3, the head of water from the tank being small. The amount of water thus primarily admitted into the chamber 3 will cushioning-chamber 3 and pipe B into the generating-chamber and rise in tube 1)? of.

the holder and attack the carbid through the slot b therein. Generated gas immediately rises in the chamber 2 and thence escapes into the storage-chamber 0 through a small opening 0 in the floor thereof and thence passes through pipe D to the burner (I, when it can be ignited and burned. It will be observed that no water can splash into the generating-chamber. The bend in the feed-pipe l3 prevents water therein being forced up or down by inertia when the lamp is suddenly raised or lowered, and no matter how much the water may splash "in chamber 3 it does not perceptibly affect the feed to the carbid, because the constant pressure of the body of compressed air in said chamber maintains a uniform feed of water through the pipe B As soon as any oversupply of gas is generated the back pressure of gas in pipe b forces the water from the holder and from the carbid therein instantaneously, and if the overgeneration is sufficient it may force the water entirely out of the generating-chamber and into the air-cushioning chamber, which forms a yielding buffer between the generating-chamber and the tank, and the shock of any sudden influx of water from the tank or of gas from the generating-chamber into the chamber 3 is expended on and cushioned by the air in said chamber. The primary effect of these abnormal injections of water or gas into the cushioning-chamber is to'first additionally compress the air therein,which thereupon immediately begins to force the Water back into the tank until equilibrium is restored. This air-cushion relieves the lamp from any undesirable sudden supply of water to the carbid-chamber or flickering of gas due to the sudden raising or lowering of the lamp, as it acts as a spring or cushion and takes up or yields to the inertia of the Water in the water chamber produced by these causes while the water is on the way from the water-chamber to the carbid-chamber and prevents the water in the tank sucking or pounding the gas in and out of the generating-chamber.

The air-cushioning chamber-is always maintained in the lamp owing to the fact that in the construction of the lamp the tube from the water-chamber admits the water only at the bottom of the air-chamber and the sup ply of water for thecarbid is taken only from the bottom thereof. A body of air is thus always confined in this chamber and can never escape, and the air-cushion is greatly IIO .the wheel for the purpose of charging it.

is used as a generating-tube to introduce water to the carbid and is open at both ends to permit the free and unrestricted passage of both gas and water, is important in the practical operation of the apparatus, particularly when used as as bicycle-lamp. In this tube the back pressure of gas is utilized to hold'back the water. The slit admits exactly the amount of water and at the exact level necessary to begin the generation of gas with the utmost nicety of automatic regulation and supply.

The air always confined in chamber 3 is actually and practically an air-cushion between the tank and generating-chamber and is the result of much study and experiment on my part, and in connection with the slitted tube in the generating-chamber I believe solves the problem of the automatic lamp, and the result of the two is to produce in fact a really automatic lamp. I do not claim the idea of regulating the water-supply by the gas-pressure; but I believe that my method and means of doing so as described in the specification is new and is the first practical solution of the problem of producing a literally automatic acetylene-gas lamp.

It will further be observed that by my improved construction of lamp the gas-generating parts are so constructed and connected that they are removable, as if in one piece, from the lamp. This is a matter of great convenience to the user of a gas-lamp for any outdoor purposes. By my method of construction one need not remove the lamp from The generator can be taken out, the old charge removed, and water and carbid put in place, and the generator replaced in the lamp in little time without disturbing the remainder of the lamp.

Having thus described my invention, what I therefore claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent thereon, is-

1. An acetylene-gas apparatus comprising a tank and a gas-generating chamber in fixed relation to each other, a gas-storing chamber directly connected to the gas generating chamber and having no connection with the tank, a water-inlet to the generating-chamber, means for permitting water to pass freely between the tank and said water-inlet, a longitudinally-slitted tube in the generatingchamber, communicating at one end with the water-inlet and at the other with a gas-storing chamber, whereby the supply of water to the generating-chamber is controlled and governed by the pressure of gas on the water in such tube.

2. In an acetylene-gas apparatus, the combination of a Water-tank, a generating-chamber adapted to contain the carbid having a small water-inlet to the generating-chamber, a gas-storing chamber directly connected to the generating-chamber but having no connection with the tank, a longitudinally-slitted tube within said chamber freely communicating at top with the gas-storing chamber above the carbid and at bottom with the water -inlet to the generating -chamber, and means for admitting the water from the tank to the bottom of said tube; said tube admitting the water to the carbid through the slit ata level predetermined and controlled by the pressure of the gas in the generating-chamber, and the supply of water to the generating-chamber and carbid beingcontrolled and governed by the direct pressure of the gas on the water in such tube without the employment of extraneous regulating devices, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. In an acetylene-gas generator, the combination of a tank, the generating-chamber, and an air-cushion chamber intermediate the tank and generating-chamber, and through which the wateris passed from the tank to said generating-chamber,said air-chamber having such connections with the tank and the generating-chamber that in any position of the lamp it will constantly contain a substantially uniform volume of air forming an airbuifer in said air-chamber adapted to cushion all shocks from sudden violent movements of the lamp or from an abnormal influx of water or gas into said air-chamber from the tank or generating-chamber, substantially as described.

4. In an acetylene-gas lamp, the combination of a fixed supporting-casing, and a removable cylinder or vessel therein divided by interior partitions into a water-chamber, and a carbid-chamber, and means in said cylinder for permitting water to pass from the water-chamber to the carbidchamber; with means for detaching or attaching said vessel from or to the casing, substantially as described.

5. In an acetylene-gasgenerating apparatus, the combination of the water-tank, a generating-chamber having a closed bottom with a small inlet, and means for directing water from the tank to the inlet of said chamber, with a removable holder in said generatingchamber also having a closed bottom, a vertical longitudinally-slitted tube in said holder opening through the bottom thereof, to permit water to enter the holder by rising in said tube and through the slit therein to contact the carbid at a level predetermined by the pressure of the gas in the generating-chamber; said tube also enabling the water-supply to the carbid to be automatically controlled solely by the direct back pressure of gas in said tube upon the water therein, and without extraneous devices.

6. The combination with the water-tank, the generating-chamber and carbid-holder therein, of an air-cushioning chamberlocated below and extending beneath the said waterchamber and generating-chamber, and receiving water from the former and supplying it to the latter by pipes or passages opening into the cushioning-chamber only near the bottom thereof, whereby a cushioning-body of confined air is constantly maintained in said chamber in all positions of the lamp, substantially as described.

'7. In an acetylene-gas generator, the combination of the water-tank, the generatingchamber, the storin g-chamber above and communicating with the generating-chamber and with a burner, the air-cushioning chain berbelow and extending under both the water-tank and generating-chamber, said air-cushioning chamber communicating with said tank by a single small inlet-passage and with said generating-chamber by a single small inlet-passage, said passages opening into the bottoms of said tank and generating-chamber and communicating with the air-cushioning chamber only near the bottom thereof, said passages being so arranged that a body of air is constantly confined and always maintained in the said cushioning-chamber in all positions of the lamp, substantially as described.

8. In an acetylene-gas generator, the combination of the Water-tank, the generatingchamber, and the air-cushioning chamber communicating with said tank and with said generating-chamber and containing a constant confined air-cushion between the tank and generating-chamber; with the supplementary air-chamber communicating with said air-cushioning chamber, for the purpose and substantially as described.

9. In an acetylene-gas generator, the combination of the water-tank, the generatingchamber, the storing-chamber above and communicating with the generating-chamber and with a burner,an d the air-cushioning chamber below the water-tank and generating-chamber communicating with said tank and with said generating-chamber, and maintaining a constant confined air-cushion between the tank and generating-chamber; with the annular air-chamber exterior to and surrounding the cushioning-chamber and the lower ends of the tank and gen erating-chamber and communicating near its bottom with the bottom of the air-cusl1ioning chamber, for the purpose and substantially as described.

10. The combination of the water-tank, the generatin g-chamber, the air-c ushionin g chamber intermediate and communicating with both said tank and said generating-chamber and containing a constant body of confined air, a removable holder in said generatingchamber having a closed bottom and a slitted tube in said holder opening through the bottom thereof, substantially as and for the pur pose described.

11. In an acetylene-lamp, the combination of the fixed casing, a cylinder detachably secured within said casin g, and the water-tank, the generating-chamber, and the air-cushioning chamber formed within said cylinder, substantially as described, and means for detachably securing said cylinder in the casing, substantially as described.

12. The combination of the, fixed casing havinga gas-storing chamber in its upper end, and a burner supply-pipe communicating with said chamber; with a cylinder detachably fitted in said casing, and a water-tank,

an air-cushioning chamber and a generatingchamber contained within said cylinder; said tank and generatin g-chamber indirectly comm unicating through the cushioning-chamber; with means for detachably securing said cylinder Within the casing, the upper ends of the water-tank and generatingchamber being closed by the upper end of the casing when the cylinder is secured therein.

13. In an acetylene-lamp, the combination of the fixed casing, open at bottom and closed at top, and the cylinder removablysecured in said casing, a tube secured in said cylinder dividing it into a water-tank and a generating-chamber, and a partition in said cylinder .forming an air-cushioning chamber in the lower portion thereof, a water pipe or passage connected with said tank and opening into said cushioningchamber near the bottom thereof, and a water-inlet from said cushioning-chamber into said generating-chamber openinginto the cushioning-chamber near the bottom thereof, and means for removably securing said cylinder, with its contained tank, generating-chamber and aircushioning chamher, in said casing, for the purpose and substantially as described.

14. In an acetylene-lamp, the combination of the fixed casing, open at bottom and closed at top, and the cylinder removably secured in said casing, a tube secured in said cylinder dividing it into a water-tank and a generating-chamber, and a partition in said cylinder forming an air-cushioning chamber in the lower portion thereof, a water pipe or passage connected with said tank and opening into said cushioningchamber near the bottom thereof, and a water-inlet from said cushioningchamber into said generating-chamber opening into the cushioning-chamber near the bottom thereof 3 with a removable carbidholder in said generating-chamber having a closed bottom, a longitudinally-slitted tube secured in said holder and opening through the bottom thereof into the generating-chamber, and open at the top into the gas-holding portion of said chamber, and means for removably securing said cylinder with its contained tank, gen crating-chamber and air-cushioning chamber in said casing, for the purpose and substantially as described.

15. In an acetylene-lamp, the combination of the fixed casing, the gas-storing chamber in the top thereof, the cylinder removably secured in said casing, a tube secured in said cylinder dividing it into a water-tank and a generating-charnber,and a water-conduit connecting said tank and generating-chamber near the bottoms thereof; with a removable carbid-holder in said generating-chamber having a closed bottom, a longitudinally-slitted tube secured in said holder and opening through the bottom thereof'into'the lower end of the generating-chamber, and ogen at the top into the upper portion of said chamber; and means for removably securing said cylinder, containing the tank, generating-chamber and carbid-holder, in said casing, for the V purpose and substantially as described.

and a partition in said cylinder forming an air-cushioning chamber in the lower portion thereof, a water pipe or passage connected with said tank and opening into said cushioning-chamber near the bottom thereof, and a water-inlet from said cushioning-chamber into said generating-chamberopening into the cushioning-chamber near the bottom thereof, substantially as described.

17. In an acetylene-lamp, the combination of the fixed casing, the cylinder secured in said casing, a tube secured in saidcylinder dividing'it into a water-tank and a generating-chamber, and a partition in said cylinder forming an air-cushioning chamber in 'the lower portion thereof, a water pipe or passage connected with said tank and opening'into said cushioningchamber near the bottom thereof, and a water-inlet from said cushioning-chamber into said generating-chamber opening into the cushioning-chamber near the bottom thereof; with a removable carbidholder in said generating-chamber having a closed bottom, and a longitudinally-slitted tube secured in said holder and opening through the bottom thereof into the generating-chamber, and open at the top into the gash'olding portion of said chamber, for the purpose and substantially as described.

EMIL A. PAULI.

NV itnesses:

THOMAS A. BANNING,- THOMAS B. MCGREGOR. 

